Humanoid robot vehicleries two passengers and turns into sports auto

If you've ever wanted to "roll out" like one of the Autobots from the hit media franchise "Transformers", you might be able to soon!

Japanese engineers unveiled a robot that can shape-shift into a sports auto in about 30 seconds, and can actually carry people on board.

A group of Japanese roboticists have created the J-deite Ride, a 12-foot tall humanoid robot that transforms into a working vehicle, much like Bumblebee, Jazz, or the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime. They're calling it the first accomplishment of its kind in the history of robots, according to Reuters. The research project took employees three years, resulted in a 4-metre vehicle, able for minutes to turn into a robot with a height of 3.7 metres.

The robot was developed by SoftBank's software subsidiary Asratec Corp., Tokyo-based start-up Brave Robotics Inc. and Sansei Technologies Inc., an Osaka-based game machine maker. Ishida says that he "grew up believing that robots had to be capable of such things, which became my motivation to develop this robot".

While admitting that it may seem like an expensive toy, Mr Ishida said the robot is an attempt to inspire others and broaden the human imagination.

But developers said they have never really tested it outside the factory cargo bay area.